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Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News captured nearly three-quarters of all U.S. cable news audiences in the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory, as liberal Americans turn away from the country’s transition former reality TV star towards a second term.
Fox’s daily ratings have jumped 40 percent since Vote of November 5while audiences for the more left-leaning MSNBC and CNN fell 38 percent and 27 percent, respectively, according to Nielsen figures.
Trump’s victory in the 2016 election and his chaotic first presidency sparked a boom in news networks and organizations. This time, the potential for a “Trump bump” appears more nuanced.
However, one of the first obvious beneficiaries is Fox Newsthe cable channel Murdoch founded in 1996, where the public has flocked in recent weeks.
Fox News averaged 2 million viewers per day from Nov. 6-22, compared with 1.4 million for the year through Nov. 4, according to Nielsen. During the same period, MSNBC attracted 526,000 viewers each day, up from 847,000 before November 5. CNN’s audience fell to 366,000 per day during this period, compared to an average of 503,000 before the election.
In prime time in the weeks following the election, 73 percent of the total cable news audience watched Fox, while 16 percent tuned in to MSNBC and 11 percent tuned in to CNN.
The outlook for the broader cable TV universe is bleak as audiences turn to online streaming. But Fox’s ability to weather industry malaise has sent its shares up nearly 60 percent this year. Fox Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch said this month that it was a problem “record” quarter for the company’s political income.
MSNBC and CNN benefited from the first Trump administration, successfully positioning themselves as resistance networks against the president.
But early signs suggest these chains will no longer benefit from similar momentum. Ratings fell even as Trump’s flurry of cabinet appointments kept the news cycle busy.
American media conglomerate Comcast last week revealed plans to spin off MSNBC and its other cable channels into a separate company — an implicit admission of the media outlet’s accelerating decline.
Podcasters and nontraditional media voices have been among the first winners in the new Trump era, after the former president flooded the digital airwaves this year with interviews on YouTube talk shows that attract large male audiences .
Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s son, suggested Monday that his father may seek to elevate these new media stars in the White House press room, while sidelining traditional media groups that Trump constantly referred to as “enemies”.
“We were talking about the podcast world and some of our friends and (Joe) Rogan. . . Given the behavior of the media. . . we had the discussion about opening up the newsroom to a lot of these independent journalists,” Trump Jr. said on his podcast Monday.
“So that could be in the works.” This is going to make some heads explode. So we’ll see.
